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2012's top story may yet unfold

Posted:
12/28/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

Eight years ago Wednesday, perhaps the most important story of that year erupted on the other side of the planet. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, caused by an undersea earthquake on Dec. 26, unleashed a torrent of seawater that devastated coastlines across entire nations, killing an estimated 230,000 people.

Of course, most of the lists of the top stories for the year had been created before the disaster took place, showing the fallacy that sometimes surrounds such lists. Oftentimes, the biggest and most important stories of any given year or even decade cannot be realized until the lens of history brings them into sharper focus.

Last year at this time, the lists of the state's most-important stories missed the issue that would affect Colorado residents throughout all of 2012. By December 2011, a few climate watchers had noted an unusually dry beginning to the winter snowpack. But most were not worried, because a succession of storms in spring 2011 had filled area reservoirs and had even prevented many mountain areas from opening by Memorial Day. The assumption last year was that spring storms would again put the region in a positive water outlook for 2012. It didn't happen.

The dry winter continued into a dry spring and then a disastrously dry summer, punctuated by the High Park and Waldo Canyon fires, as well as smaller fires around the state that destroyed fewer homes but reminded residents of the potential hazards of living at the edge of, or surrounded by, a dry forest.

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This past week's snow notwithstanding, 2012 will end in the same manner as 2011 -- unseasonably dry. That could set the table for another disastrous season.

As you read about this year's "top" stories, keep in mind history is always written in rough drafts. What seems most important today could turn out to have been a flash in the pan compared to the long-term trend that developed beneath the surface.

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